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The Wise Virgins
The Wise Virgins: A Story of Words, Opinions, and a Few Emotions | Leonard Woolf
2 posts | 7 to read
The Wise Virgins (1914), Leonard Woolfs second novel, was published two years after the authors marriage to Virginia Stephen--and begun during their honeymoon. The autobiographical elements of the book are well documented. Its publication caused acute distress to Woolfs family. Leonards sister, Bella, urged him to bury the novel, while his mother was shocked and mortified by unflattering portraits of herself and her neighbors. Two weeks after reading the novel, Virginia Woolf suffered the worst of her many breakdowns. As a roman clef the novel holds considerable interest for its picture of Leonard and Virginias courtship, as well as its sketches of Vanessa Stephen and Clive Bell. (Virginia would later retell the story, from a much different perspective, in Night and Day.) But the novel offers the contemporary reader other rewards. It remains a witty, engaging satire about English society just before World War I and its conventions and prejudices. In Harry Davis, Woolf created a memorable Jewish antihero who rails against societys conventions but tragically finds himself unable to escape them. Award-winning biographer Victoria Glendinning contributes a foreword to this new paperback edition.
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Reviewsbylola
Wise Virgins (Revised) | Leonard Woolf
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Wolf‘s semi autobiographical novel centers around a young bachelor named Harry. He must decide if he should marry the boring girl next door that his family is pushing him towards, or the more fiery girl that has caught his eye, Camilla. I haven‘t read this one yet but it‘s one of the titles I received in my Persephone subscription! #abbainaugust #idoidoido

Meredith3 Sounds pretty good! I haven‘t read either of my Persephone books yet but I wanna get started on em! 6y
acg I've been wanting this title; I took a seminar on Woolf in undergrad and LOVE the Bloomsbury Group 6y
Jess_Read_This Are you enjoying your Persephone subscription?? It sounds like a good one! 6y
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emilyhaldi Never met a Persephone I didn't like! 6y
Reviewsbylola I had it for six months. It was a gift and Persephone requested I contact them and tell them what six titles I wanted, but I wanted more of a surprise so I gave them a list of probably about 15 titles and asked them to surprise me from that list. It was a lot of fun! @Jess_Read_This 6y
Mdargusch This one sounds good! 6y
Cinfhen Nice choice 💕💕 6y
Kalalalatja I have wanted a Persephone subscription for years! Maybe I should treat myself to one for my birthday 🤔😄 6y
Reviewsbylola You totally should!! @Kalalalatja 6y
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Reviewsbylola
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I got my first book from my six month Persephone birthday subscription gifted to me by my sisters, @emilyhaldi @AnnieD no @Meredith3 🎉🎉🎉 I ended up emailing #Persephone my top choices from the catalogue and they're sending me one book per month from that list. It's always a surprise which one I'll get, so I was so excited to open this today. 😁😁

LeahBergen I'm going to have to hint around my family for this gift for myself! 7y
merelybookish What a great gift!! 7y
emilyhaldi Awesome! Love that it's a surprise each month 😄 Can't wait to hear about this one. 7y
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minkyb I like @LeahBergen 's idea! 7y
minkyb Enjoy! 7y
CoffeeCatsBooks I'm curious what you think of it too. They have so many great sounding titles. It's hard to pick! 7y
Tamra How wonderful! 7y
Cinfhen Great gift 💕💕💕 7y
Mdargusch I love that! 7y
ValerieAndBooks Very nice!! 7y
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